Folk/rock songs in singer/songwriter style and diy/punk spirit. 
Personas and parodies, rants and ramblings, fables and fantasy, sleaze and silliness.

I've been playing/writing music as a hobby for years, and sometime ago I arranged my songs into 4 thematic (semi-finished) albums. After persistent nagging and unreasonable flattery from biased friends, I've been coaxed into spending some free time working on selected songs (from those 4 albums) and making them public. Hope you like them.

About me, I'm in my 30s, of mixed background, and I live (mostly) in England and Scotland. Jon Deferdyn is an alteration of my name and the Vortex is a small, loose group of friends with whom I've played music.

Some of the compliments I've got so far are on the lyrics, so I've included them (on each song page here).

Many of my favorite artists are (for lack of a better description) in the literary singer-songwriter/chansonnier/bard tradition:
Georges Brassens, Jake Thackray, Fabrizio De Andre, Nick Cave, Vladimir Vysotsky, Shane McGowan, Ewan MacColl, Dubliners, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, Wolf Biermann, Jacek Kaczmarski, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Linton Kwesi Johnson; in bands, Clash, Mano Negra, Cramps, and others.

We're a ska band who haven't yet managed to record any of our songs - we're getting there, watch this space. But while we're in the process of recording, we thought to check out some other ska bands (or rock, punk, folk, which we also love) on soundcloud and possibly connect for collaborations or just to get some new ideas.

My name is Rachel. I'll be sharing some great music with some of my friends here. Hope you like it!

Magnificent performances (but not by me!)

chocomococoDIY is following